Mifepristone Abortion Pill Access in Limbo: Justice Department May Ask Supreme Court's Intervention
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Biotechnology: Pharmaceutical Preparations
Health Care
- U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said that the Justice Department would file an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to block the entirety of Kacsmaryk's order suspending the FDA approval of the abortion pill mifepristone.
- Garland said the administration "will be seeking emergency relief from the Supreme Court to defend the FDA's scientific judgment and protect Americans' access to safe and effective reproductive care."
- The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals put on hold part of last Friday's order by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Amarillo, Texas, while he hears a lawsuit by anti-abortion groups seeking to ban it.
- The Planned Parenthood Federation of America condemned the 5th Circuit's decision as a rejection of science and law.
- "The federal judiciary has — for the second time this week — rejected science and the law, and this time, the court decided they had the authority to re-write mifepristone's label," CNBC reported citing Alexis McGill Johnson, president of Planned Parenthood.
- "If allowed to stand, the consequences of this decision will be catastrophic not just for medication abortion access but the entire drug approval system," he added.
- A U.S. federal appeals court has temporarily blocked a decision by a Texas judge.
- The abortion pill mifepristone will remain available in the U.S. for now but with some restrictions, including requiring in-person doctor visits to obtain the drug and limiting its use to the first seven weeks of pregnancy from the current ten, a federal appeals court ruled.